The Australian has managed to speak to director Ridley Scott whilst he was doing promotion for his upcoming biblical film, The Exodus. In the interview he provides a brief update on Prometheus 2:

“It’s fresh” and “getting away from gods and dragons and shit. If I see one more dragon I’m going to shoot myself. Stop the dragons.” Rather than a dragon, Scott describes his original Alien as “the definitive dragon and he’s a motherf . . ker. The alien’s real which is why it’s probably one of the scariest monsters in film history,” Scott says. “So with Prometheus 2 what I’m trying to do is reintroduce a fresher form of alien in the third act.” The Prometheus “baby” alien was, he concedes, “awfully close to the alien” that tormented Sigourney Weaver. His next one promises to be very different.

We’ve known for some time that Ridley wanted to distance himself from the Alien itself, a point he re-iterated in September. What I find odd is he wants to move away from “gods”. This is particularly odd in that Prometheus revolved around revealing the Engineers to be our creators. The article also mentions that Ridley is planning on starting production of Prometheus 2 at the end of 2015. Thanks to Scified and blacklabel for the news.

The reporter seems to be making the leap that 'dragon' is what Ridley is calling the alien, but much as he had a dig at endless zombie flicks a while back, I took his remarks on dragons to be aimed at Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, maybe Harry Potter...

Ridley was comparing the alien to a "futuristic dragon" back in the time of the Alien interviews, with Ripley in her white suit at the end a white knight

Yes, but given his actual statement 'stop the dragons' 'If I see one more dragon' it looks like it's aimed more at the sudden cultural prevalence of mythical dragons.

well, I haven't really bothered to look at too many dragons recently anyway, but I wish to validate the fact that the original alien could be compared to a dragon was always at the back of his mind anyway, whatever set him off with the need to talk about dragons today.

The reporter seems to be making the leap that 'dragon' is what Ridley is calling the alien, but much as he had a dig at endless zombie flicks a while back, I took his remarks on dragons to be aimed at Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, maybe Harry Potter...

Ridley was comparing the alien to a "futuristic dragon" back in the time of the Alien interviews, with Ripley in her white suit at the end a white knight

Yes, but given his actual statement 'stop the dragons' 'If I see one more dragon' it looks like it's aimed more at the sudden cultural prevalence of mythical dragons.

And not only this, but Giger's biomechanical sculptures/designs were so evocative and detailed and layered that they implied an eerie backstory in and of themselves.

I think that you would have to have Giger overseeing the whole thing in order to get that added effect that seemed to create a back story, or at least the one's we've been imagining all this time.

I probably am interested though in the idea of Prometheus 2 playing around with the idea of quantum physics and a holographic universe, and probably the reason that the derelict and the juggernaut as well as their occupants are different but with similarities is because they are from universes parallel to each other but yet still interconnected, and so they merely represent the same thing in our universe of thinking and so they have a certain amount of bleed through between their different realities in the form of their technologies and their ships, as if they are in some way symbols

Yes, I also hope to see Shaw converted into a biomechanoid creature. She finds answers to the big questions but while she is possessed by a biomechanical God. And then she begins to see images of the ancient past of the Engineers in her mind, when she is connected with that monstrosity.

That's exactly the kind of thing I'd love to see. Ridley did himself a disservice moving away from the biomechanical aspect of Giger's designs. That's what truly made the Alien a fantastic design - the subsequent departure from those aspects in the later films lessened the visual awesomeness of the creatures.

I feel the same happened for Prometheus. The rocky/natural appearance of the Engineer structures and the creatures.

And not only this, but Giger's biomechanical sculptures/designs were so evocative and detailed and layered that they implied an eerie backstory in and of themselves.

Yes, I also hope to see Shaw converted into a biomechanoid creature. She finds answers to the big questions but while she is possessed by a biomechanical God. And then she begins to see images of the ancient past of the Engineers in her mind, when she is connected with that monstrosity.

The reporter seems to be making the leap that 'dragon' is what Ridley is calling the alien, but much as he had a dig at endless zombie flicks a while back, I took his remarks on dragons to be aimed at Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, maybe Harry Potter...

Ridley was comparing the alien to a "futuristic dragon" back in the time of the Alien interviews, with Ripley in her white suit at the end a white knight

That's exactly the kind of thing I'd love to see. Ridley did himself a disservice moving away from the biomechanical aspect of Giger's designs. That's what truly made the Alien a fantastic design - the subsequent departure from those aspects in the later films lessened the visual awesomeness of the creatures.

I feel the same happened for Prometheus. The rocky/natural appearance of the Engineer structures and the creatures.

Of course they will screw it up in one way or another. But it would be refreshing to see something new. Extremely tired of Colonial Marines and Predator crossovers. Technically A:R left us with a grand opening to a new chapter in the Alien saga, but no one cares or knows what to do with it (...yet).

It would be nice if they started burning the wick at both ends. In effect, the movies could go on a Prometheus tangent and also a post-Aliens tangent and then at some point the stories could remerge.

Sounds good to me. Would make things less contrived and would add another dimension to Alien as well as Prometheus. That means that they have to start making Alien movies again, which I doubt. A:R opened up for a new chapter, but people are still stuck and obsessed with the previous one. Does Prometheus have what it takes to tow the Alien franchise and story line back to service or will the next Alien movie(s) be remakes or reboots?

With time dilation characters from both Prometheus and A:Resurrection (or any Alien films for that matter) could plausibly cross paths...not sure that I'd want that to happen though...there are too many ways to screw that scenario up.

It would be nice if they started burning the wick at both ends. In effect, the movies could go on a Prometheus tangent and also a post-Aliens tangent and then at some point the stories could remerge.

Sounds good to me. Would make things less contrived and would add another dimension to Alien as well as Prometheus. That means that they have to start making Alien movies again, which I doubt. A:R opened up for a new chapter, but people are still stuck and obsessed with the previous one. Does Prometheus have what it takes to tow the Alien franchise and story line back to service or will the next Alien movie(s) be remakes or reboots?

The reporter seems to be making the leap that 'dragon' is what Ridley is calling the alien, but much as he had a dig at endless zombie flicks a while back, I took his remarks on dragons to be aimed at Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, maybe Harry Potter...

Ridley Scott said: ” The Prometheus “baby” alien was, he concedes, “awfully close to the alien” that tormented Sigourney Weaver. His next one promises to be very different.

Besides Scott promises something new and fresh. Now if I'm wrong and the new monster resembles the original Alien after all, probably will be because of it's biomechanical aspect. But I don't think the new monster is a Xenomorph, or adult Deacon.

I also find myself not very excited about a sequel to Prometheus. I'm Star Wars crazy these days....Prometheus resonated, and one day I think it will be seen as a better film then it actually is, if not for the effects alone. The next film is going to have to blow the socks off everything in every way.

The ending to Prometheus is simple yet wide open for possibility...other than Shaw and David going on an intergalactic field trip, I'd prefer they abandon everything else addressed/encountered in Prom 1.

The ending to Prometheus is simple yet wide open for possibility...other than Shaw and David going on an intergalactic field trip, I'd prefer they abandon everything else addressed/encountered in Prom 1.

We can also discuss the fact that the films were released at different times when we have different visions of what the future will be like.

Exactly, imagine if Scott had created a Prometheus with fishbowl CRT screens and futuristic wood-paneled seventies decor. Probably a good chance that the majority of Prometheus' audience hadn't even seen Alien yet. Would have looked ridiculously dated to them.

You're trying to argue that in the future, companies reply on 80+ year old tech and that no ship building companies would even bother to upgrade; instead manufacturing new models like the Porsche or the Prius, future corporations prefer the Cadillac cause it's cheaper.

It doesn't matter how poor anybody was in the future, holographic tech and whatnot would have been remarkably cheap by then.

We can also discuss the low tech in the conference room where Ripley got fired or even on the Sulaco.

Holographic technology would have been ridiculously cheap by then, there was an 80+ year difference.

The 57 years between Alien and Aliens didn't seem to make much of a difference. The Nostromo was also a supertanker built decades before Prometheus even takes place. The colony in Aliens was not built for comfort and was deliberately cheap and probably a little ramshackle.

Quote

Also, the computer Ripley uses to contact Burke to tell him she's decided to return to Acheron was also remarkably lo-tech for an era that was decades after Prometheus.

She's living in a slum on a bum wage. Look at the corridor outside her apartment; it's a dump. We don't get to see similar or comparable environments in Prometheus, only the state of the art Prometheus ship, which cost a considerable amount of money to build compared to anything else in the series, even the AP station and colony combined.

Holographic technology would have been ridiculously cheap by then, there was an 80+ year difference. Also, the computer Ripley uses to contact Burke to tell him she's decided to return to Acheron was also remarkably lo-tech for an era that was decades after Prometheus.

Also, this still doesn't explain why Hadley's Hope nor the USS Auriga had any Prometheus tech on their systems.

I can't and don't want to defend the Auriga, but it's already been said that the colony was a threadbare mesh of steel containers, likely mass-produced and designed to be functional at best. There's no real reason to have holographic technology all over the place. The AP Station is certainly more advanced than anything in Prometheus.

*sigh* Everyone here seems to keep forgetting that by Aliens' time, Prometheus's technology would be over fifty years old, making it very cheap and very affordable, so why wouldn't Hadley's Hope have tech that would be worth pennies by their time?

We're not forgetting.

The Prometheus ship is part of a trillion dollar venture; yet in Aliens WY and the Colonial Administration are weeping over however-many million that the Nostromo cost. Also, the Nostromo was old by 2122; Ridley said in one interview: "I think that the machine that they’re on could in fact be 60 years old and just added to over the decades. The metal-work on it could be 50 years old … I would have liked to see it covered with space barnacles or space seaweed, all clogged and choked up." Talking about the fleet of ships zipping through the universe's spacelanes, he said: "At the culmination of many long voyages, each covering many years, these ships -no doubt part of armadas owned by private corporations- look used, beat-up, covered with graffiti, and uncomfortable. We certainly didn’t design the Nostromo to look like a hotel.”

The deisgn and story intention behind the Prometheus ship was completely different, it was pretty much Weyland's Air Force One.

There's also a hint of technological or cultural stagnation by Alien's era, which Cameron alluded to to explain why Ripley didn't have to adapt to any new, wild technology in the 57 years between the first two movies.

Concerning Hadley's Hope, it was deliberately built on the cheap. Nothing fancy. So long as it's functional then it goes in. It's a prepacked, easy to assemble, simple to maintain (in comparison to top of the line stuff) colony. The most sophisticated piece of work on the planet is probably the AP stattion, and that costs considerably less than the Prometheus ship.

Just like George Lucas, Ridley Scott seems to have lost his touch with what he made in 1979. Looks like the Alien franchise will only live on through books and video games. Which is fine by me, Alien Isolation was the best Alien experience I've had since James Cameron's Aliens.

Yeah, I know a few other people who feel the same way; as I said in my first post on this thread, Ridley doesn't care about the Alien anymore, he's just using it to string fans along and 2x his audience, which I find to be very distasteful. People can insult Anderson and Strause Bros. all they want but at least neither pulled this kinda stunt on us.

Find it interesting that after years & years of saying the Alien is dried up, Ridley now proclaims it as the most frightening movie monster ever. How can it be dried up then? There's always new incarnations of Draculas and Zombies.

I just know for sure there isn't 1 creature feature that has a antagonist as fascinating than Alien, the Deacon was a piss poor nod at the end of Prometheus

*sigh* Everyone here seems to keep forgetting that by Aliens' time, Prometheus's technology would be over fifty years old, making it very cheap and very affordable, so why wouldn't Hadley's Hope have tech that would be worth pennies by their time?

Hadley's is referred to explicitly as a "shake-n-bake" colony, which hardly sounds like the sort of thing decked out with needlessly fancy cutting edge technology. You make money by not spending it needlessly. That's basic business sense.

Just to add to this, the Aliens laserdisc notes that “the frontier town was supposed to look like cargo containers and other scraps strung together to form a liveable environment. The concept here was that the colonists would dismantle their spaceships in order to create their new living quarters and towns.”

Cameron himself explained that “I figured the colony would have a more straightforward, rudimentary-type technology,” The colony’s model builder, Pat McClung, described the buildings as being built “out of giant shipping containers”.

Hadley's Hope was meant to look cheap and rudimentary. I don't see why anyone would compare it to the Prometheus ship.

That would require a bit of an about-face in concept. Max and co. explained away the design inconsistency with the hand-wave of 'old ship, shit happens'... which is not entirely unreasonable when you have magic bio-goo with arbitrary powers.